Ioan Mircea Pascu, former minister of Defense, declared on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Romania’s NATO membership that this political-military alliance means only one thing, namely „peace”, stressing that life in Romania takes place in normal conditions, although the neighboring country is at war.

The former minister stated for AGERPRES that he was very happy when Romania gained entry into NATO, especially because Russia’s plans to recover past losses could be anticipated.

He indicated that gaining access to this security guarantee was a feeling of ‘accomplishment and joy’, after efforts that started back in the early 1990s.

In the current context, the former minister highlights that NATO means ‘peace’ for Romania.

„NATO means only one thing: peace. Romania has a border with a state at war and yet life here is peaceful because we have this security guarantee from NATO. (…) There were many things, we had many ups and downs, a long road, I was lucky to be part of the teams that negotiated both in the first phase, up to Madrid, and the second phase, the one in Prague, and this gave me the possibility of an overview of the entire effort, of the process as such, the opportunity to take note of the changes that happened along the way, the fact that we adapted to these changes. So, in the end, we managed to achieve the goal,” the former minister of Defence added.

AGERPRES